Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics

Table of Contents:

1. Open Access

2. Article Processing Charge (APC)

3. What do we publish?

3.1 Aims & Scope
3.2 Article types
3.3 Writing your paper

4. Editorial policies

4.1 Peer review policy
4.2 Authorship
4.3 Acknowledgements
4.4 Funding
4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
4.7 Clinical trials
4.8 Reporting guidelines
4.9 Research data

5. Publishing policies

5.1 Publication ethics
5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement

6. Preparing your manuscript

6.1 Formatting
6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
6.3 Supplemental material
6.4 Reference style [Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style]

7. Submitting your manuscript

7.1 How to submit your manuscript
7.2 Title, keywords and abstract
7.3 Information required for completing your submission
7.4 ORCID
7.5 Information required for completing your submission
7.6 Permissions

8. On acceptance and publication

8.1 Sage Production
8.2 Online publication
8.3 Promoting your article

9. Further information

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics is hosted on Sage Track Sage; a web based online submission and peer review system. Please read the Manuscript Submission guidelines below, and then visit https://peerreview.Sagepub.com/pha to login and submit your article online. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to the guidelines may be returned.

You can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process. 

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics will be reviewed. As part of the submission will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

1. Open Access

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics is an open access, single-anonymize peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. 

For general information on open access at visit the Open Access page or view our Open Access FAQs.

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2. Article processing charge (APC)

The article processing charges for Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics are collected by Phcog.Net.

If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

The article processing charge (APC) for this journal is INR 20000 plus taxes for India and $800 plus taxes for the rest of the world.

The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. The journal offers waivers to authors from Lower middle-Income Countries (10% waiver on the actual APC) and authors from Lower-Income Countries (25% waiver on the actual APC) depending on the quality of work and other special considerations. The Journal reserves the right to approve or reject any waiver application. The waiver decision will be communicated to the corresponding author within one week after the request is received.

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3. What do we publish?

3.1 Aim and scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

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3.2 Article types

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics publishes wide-ranging original research results, reviews and opinions aimed at increasing our understanding of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The Journal accepts papers such as research articles, reviews, commentaries, book reviews, molecular images, reports, perspectives on published reports in the form of journal clubs and views. It also includes editorials on Policy which may include Intellectual property, Technology commercialization and interdisciplinary issues.
The acceptable word limit for original article is 3500-4000, review articles should be up to 3500 words, and commentaries should not be more than 700 words. Original article, review article, reprint articles and case report need to be peer reviewed.
Abstracts should be structured with not more than 250 to 300 words. Structured abstract must include background, purpose, methods, results and conclusion (in this order only).

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3.3 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

3.3.1 Making your article discoverable
For information and guidance on how to make your article our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

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4. Editorial policies

4.1 Peer review policy

Following a preliminary triage to eliminate submissions unsuitable for Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics all papers are sent out for review. The covering letter is important. To help the Editor in their preliminary evaluation, please indicate why you think the paper suitable for publication. If your paper should be considered for fast-track publication, please explain why.
The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics utilizes a single-anonymize peer review process in which the reviewer’s names and information are withheld from the author. Reviewers may at their own to reveal their names to the author their our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. the author and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief who then makes the final decision. 
Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more the Publons website.

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4.2 Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
 
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or analysis or interpretation of data, 

Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,

Approved the version to be published, 

Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship. 

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

If the named authors for a manuscript change at any point between submission and acceptance, an Authorship Change Form must be completed and digitally signed by all authors (including any added or removed) . An addition of an author is only permitted following feedback raised during peer review. Completed forms can be uploaded at Revision Submission stage or emailed to the Journal Editorial Office contact (listed on the journal’s manuscript submission guidelines). All requests will be moderated by the Editor and/or Sage staff.

Important: Changes to the author by-line by adding or deleting authors are NOT permitted following acceptance of a paper.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

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4.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support. 

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

4.3.1 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided assistance, e.g. , as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

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4.4 Funding

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics to require a declaration of conflicting interests all a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.

For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.

Authors need to include the author contribution section in their papers.

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4.6 Research ethics and patient consent

Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to ICMR and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants 

All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

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4.7 Clinical Trials

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics  conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry like CTRI at or before the time of as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

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4.8 Reporting guidelines

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.

Other resources can be found at MLM's Reasearch Reporting Guideline and Initiatives.

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4.9 Research Data

The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

share your research data in a relevant public data repository

include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.

cite this data in your research

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5. Publishing policies

5.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

5.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

5.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

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5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit Sage's OA licenses page. Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder mandates, made at the author’s request.

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6. Preparing your manuscript

6.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is are also accepted. Word and (LaTex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

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6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online.

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6.3 Supplemental material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. , podcasts, videos, images alongside the full-text of the article. For more refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

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6.4 Reference style

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file.

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7. Submitting your manuscript

7.1 How to submit your manuscript

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics is hosted on Sage Track Sage; a web based online submission and peer review system. Please visit https://peerreview.Sagepub.com/pha to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.

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7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts

Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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7.3 Information required for completing your submission

Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

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7.4 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

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7.5 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed on the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

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7.6 Permissions

Please ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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8. On acceptance and publication

If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for Sage Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 30 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

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8.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

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8.2 Online publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

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8.3 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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9. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics editorial office as follows: 

Email: journals@phcog.net, editor.jpp@phcog.net